Dine out: Chapel Allerton restaurant Hern is fast gaining a reputation in Yorkshire for honesty and creativity

With an ethos of “ingredients first, menu later”, Hern has built a reputation for going beyond seasonality at a superficial level. With two finalist nominations in the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Olivers Awards, its efforts are certainly being noticed.

What you can expect to eat at Hern are the best ingredients available, carefully chosen and imaginatively cooked without excessive waste. Owner Rab Adams has built up a number of favoured suppliers who deliver the organic vegetables, heritage breed animals, meat, fish and seafood which are the basis of the ever-evolving menus.

From the dining room décor to the dishes served, there is a pared-down element to what Hern offers; the restaurant name has almost become an adjective in its own right.

“A chicory salad with an anchovy dressing and some Ribblesdale cheese that would probably be one of the most ‘Hern’ things I could do,” says Rab. But like the ingredients themselves, the restaurant, its ethos and its loyal diners have grown organically.

“When we first opened I remember someone coming into the restaurant saying how much they loved the “Scandi” interior,” chef-owner Rab laughs. “It wasn't by design, I just had no money!”

£17,000 is a pittance to set up a restaurant and kitchen – there was nothing left for frills, marketing or fancy touches. Even Hern’s minimalist website is more a happy accident than deliberate design. “I didn’t have any money to get a website built so I just got the simplest block design and created my own,” he says.

If it all sounds slightly unplanned, that’s not to say it’s chaotic. Rab is absolutely focussed on what he does, the food he creates and ultimately Hern is about cooking and serving amazing-tasting dishes.

Meet the chef

Rab is a Scot who spent his early career in the gas and oil industry after graduating with a Physics degree from the University of Edinburgh. He was in his mid 20s when he discovered a real passion for food. It was a path that took him to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London before his skills with stints at now-closed Michelin-starred Hedone and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea

Leaving London for Yorkshire he worked under Josh Overington at Le Cochon Aveugle in York. A career working through the ranks of a big kitchen wasn't for him and this gave him the impetus to strike out on his own. He first did this with a successful bakery in Bramley and then he bought a former Vegetarian Café in Chapel Allerton – number 5, Stainbeck Corner. The name Hern comes from Herne, an old English word for corner.

It opened in 2019 – a few months later it would shut its doors due to lockdown restrictions but it has survived and thrived ever since.

The 18-seat dining room at Hern can comfortably serve 30 covers on a busy evening. With sous chef Sam Lowy in the kitchen, General Manager Ben Loebell front of house, a kitchen porter and a couple of part-time servers it’s a tight-knit and busy team.

Sustainable food

Many of his ingredients – from cuts of meat to wheels of cheese – come from small suppliers and he gets to form close relationships with them.

There’s little storage in the kitchen so what space there is, like the ingredients themselves, has to work hard. It’s perhaps why Rab will take whole carcasses and ensure every bit is used. Take, for example, the rare-breed sheep from Gam farm in North Yorkshire – farmer Helen Wray will deliver the sheep straight to the restaurant from the abattoir where it’ll hang for a couple of days and give Rab time to consider what he’s going to do with what he’s got. The prime cuts will be used for the main meat dishes, offal might be destined for a homemade haggis, cheaper cuts might be minced and the fat rendered for various purposes.

But it’s not just the meat which is treated in this way:, Rab will use citrus pulp for purees and dry apple skins for an infused drink.

“I like to show different aspects of the same product,” he says. “Like two cuts from the same animal or different textures of a fruit.”

Rab takes a weekly order of organic vegetables, fruit and dairy from the Manchester-based co-op Organic North, based on what is seasonal and at its peak. Then the vegetarian, meat and fish dishes will be built around that.

As we talk, Rab is also juggling childcare of his one-year-old son – he and his wife also have a three year old daughter; and whilst the restaurant itself opens for dinners four days a week, running a business like this is a full-time occupation and that’s before you factor in a couple of tots. “I don’t get any lie-ins that’s for sure,” he says.

A set menu is served Thursday to Saturday at £55 a head; an a la carte menu is served on Wednesday night and Saturday lunchtime. Vegetarian and pescetarian menus are always available if booked in advance.

The clientele are a mix of people newly discovering the place and loyal regulars.

“Every time we’ve changed something, even just given the dining room  a lick of paint we tend to get people coming in saying ‘have you just opened?’,” says Rab. “But we also have returning customers who came in the first few weeks and still come. They might find familiar things – like a snack or an element of a dish – but it’s always a new and different experience.”

Rab is content with Hern: he says it has an identity which took a while to establish but is now fully formed. His honest ambition for Hern is for it to survive, in what are unprecedented and  precarious times for restaurants. A full restaurant, happy diners, happy staff and delicious food are what drive him forward.

Rab doesn’t even always taste the dishes he devises – “There are some things you know you can put together and they won't just be good, they will be delicious”

“I don’t sit down with a piece of paper and design a plate of food, how it’s going to look and then go and buy the ingredients and cook it. I'm not that kind of chef. I prefer to initial source really good products and react to them."

There’s lots around Leeds that inspires him too: Shawarma spot Eastern Oven in Kirkgate Market, family-run Chinese restaurant Wen's and  relaxed bistro Owt – (formerly in the Corn Exchange but now in a new home on Burley Road) are a handful of his favourite haunts.

Whilst it’s hard to define exactly what makes Hern so good, it’s a restaurant flying slightly under the radar which garners rave reviews from new clientele and reviewers alike.

Try it for yourself. Find out more and book a table via the website here, follow Hern on Instagram or call 0113 262 5809.